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Ricciardo stripped of second place at GP

Steve Larkin

Australian driver Daniel Ricciardo has been disqualified and stripped of his second-placing at the Melbourne grand prix for breaking a Formula One law.

Ricciardo was disqualified some four hours after the finish of Sunday's race at Melbourne's Albert Park.

The Perth-born driver's Red Bull Racing car was found to have broken a F1 law regarding allowed fuel flow during the race.

Jo Bauer, the F1 technical delegate of the sport's governing body, the FIA, said Ricciardo's car "exceeded consistently the maximum allowed fuel flow" of 100 kilograms an hour during the race.

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The rule was introduced for this season, among other law changes.

Ricciardo and Red Bull Racing faced a stewards investigation which disqualified the Australian from the race, won by German Nico Rosberg in a Mercedes.

Denmark's Kevin Magnussen, who finished third, was subsequently elevated to second spot, and his McLaren teammate Jenson Button, who finished fourth, was lifted to third place.

Ricciardo and Red Bull Racing learnt of the law breach some 80 minutes after the race ended.

They then faced the stewards investigation.

Ricciardo had been celebrating his best-ever Formula One finish, and also becoming the first Australian to finish on the podium at a home grand prix since the event joined the Formula One world championship in 1985 - only for his feats to be scrubbed.

Before knowing of the rule breach, Ricciardo said there had been guesswork regarding the fuel consumption.

"At the start of the race it was a bit of guessing," he told reporters at the post-race media conference.

"Some laps I would try and push and not really conserve (fuel). When I thought I had enough gap I would start conserving.

"We were learning all the time today. It's the first time we have done the race distance so we will take a lot out of it.

"I think the system to reach the fuel target is not bad considering we haven't done too much work with that. I think we survived quite well."

But post-race scrutineering found the breach, resulting in Ricciardo's disqualification.